Vista is unleashed, so David Flynn looks at what Microsoft has in store for us now.

With the long-awaited and long-overdue Windows Vista finally out the door, you’d hope that Microsoft’s legion of programmers got at least one day off before they had to dive headfirst into the next wave of programs from the software juggernaut.

Already taking shape in the company’s skunkworks are the next editions of Windows and Office, both due in 2010. The former is currently known only as Windows 7, as it’s the seventh full version of the Windows operating system.

The latter has been tagged Office 14 - it’s actually the 13th edition of the Office suite “but that’s an unlucky number, so we’re going to skip Office 13 and call the next one Office 14,” laughs Jensen Harris, group program manager for Microsoft’s Office User Experience Team and the man behind the radical interface of Office 2007.

“We’re looking at the customer feedback that we’re starting to get from people going to the store and buying Office 2007,” Harris says. “But our job isn’t done here [with Office 2007] and we still have some tricks up out sleeve.”

By year’s end we’ll see a product Microsoft views as the centrepiece of the digital home. Called Windows Home Server, it will enable everyday users to share and store files on a central server - a compact and super-quiet PC that can be kept in a closet.

But unlike conventional servers that are expensive and complex to manage, Windows Home Server is designed with mere mortals in mind. “Our target market is any home with broadband and more than one PC,” says Joel Sider, senior program manager for Windows Home Server.

Users get access to shared folders on the home server as well as their own password-protected folders, while the server can be set to automatically back up each computer over the network.

The “killer feature” is that users also will be able to connect to their server securely over the internet, using any web browser - providing the ability to download and upload files from the office, a mate’s place or an internet cafe.

“This opens up all sorts of possibilities, such as being able to share media with friends and family to whom you give access,” Sider enthuses. “Or if you’re on holidays and the memory card on your camera is full, you can upload the shots to the server then wipe the card and get back to taking more photos. If you’re at your accountant’s office and you forgot some tax document, you can just jump online and grab it from your home server or even your own home PC.”

Title: And for Microsoft’s next trick …
Author: David Flynn
Date: 28 May 2007
Source: The Age

Some tech tidbits have filled the notebook today. Let’s unload the good stuff.

• If you have not run Windows Update lately, now is the time. There are some serious security issues solved by the updates over the last two months, including a couple of bugs in Windows Vista.

Most people not on dial-up Internet accounts should have automatic update turned on but if you don’t, head to “update.microsoft.com” and get all the critical updates for the month.

• If you own an Apple computer don’t feel so smug; dozens of patches have been released in its latest update as well. To get it run update from within the operating system and get the latest releases.

• Microsoft also claims it has fixed a bug that can corrupt certain iPods if they are removed from the Windows PC running Windows Vista. Microsoft warns iPod owners to use iTunes to initiate the removal of the iPod. That patch will come from Windows Update too.

• PC World has reported a bug in Yahoo Messenger that can leave you vulnerable from attack from your Internet Explorer browser. You need to download the latest version of Messenger from Yahoo’s Web site to eliminate the risk.

• The popular music download site “allofmp3.com” suffered another setback after a seller of vouchers good for downloads on the site was arrested in London. The recording industry has been fighting for years to shut down the site, which is based in Russia, because they claim even though users pay a modest fee per song, none of the fee goes to the artist.

The Web site claims it is legal in Russia but users hit the site from all over.

Taking a cue from online betting sites, the recording industry is attacking and removing the ability of users to pay at the site. They have already gotten the credit cards and PayPal to stop taking payments. This is going to get very interesting very quickly.

• In an ironic twist, Symantec has warned of a security flaw in Norton Internet Security 2004 and Norton Personal Firewall 2004. If you have either of these products there is a bug that could allow a hacker to take over your system. You need to run Live Update as soon as possible to automatically download and install a patch for the flaw.

• MySpace, the popular social networking site aimed at young people, blinked in its battle with eight state attorneys general over turning over records of the registered sex offenders found using the site. The site now says it has identified and removed 7,000 profiles from sex offenders out of a whopping 180 million.

Of course, many people registered at the site don’t use a real name (or any name), so good luck on those folks.

WEEKLY WEB WONDER: The search engine Ask.com now claims to be better than Google in finding relevant results out of the billions of Web pages out there. Give it a try and see.

Title: Updates available for Windows, Mac
Author: James Derk
Date: 27 May 2007
Source: SunHerald.com

Ubuntu-loaded PCs from Dell are here but are they that much cheaper than the comparable Windows system?

Now that Dell has released its Ubuntu-preloaded desktop and notebook PCs, there are two questions to answer – firstly, how much cheaper are Ubuntu systems over their Windows Vista counterparts and secondly, just how much is Dell charging consumers for a Windows Vista license.

So we decided to look at Dell’s pricing and build three equivalent Windows-based systems to match the new Ubuntu-preloaded offerings to see what we could save.

Challenge #1 – Dell Inspiron E1505n vs Dell Inspiron E1505

Dell’s Ubuntu-fired Inspiron E1505n is the equivalent hardware platform to its Windows-based Inspiron E1505. Now on configuring, it’s possible to get the two notebooks to almost the same component makeup with the same processor, memory, chassis, hard drive and optical drive.

• Intel Core Duo T2080 processor
• 1GB DDR2-667 shared memory
• 15.4-inch widescreen LCD panel
• 80GB 5400RPM hard drive
• 24X-speed CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive

Where the comparison falls down is graphics option.

The E1505 only comes with ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 graphics and the E1505n only offers Intel’s integrated graphics. But at this point, the price difference is only $US50, with the Windows Vista Basic-installed E1505 costing $US699 and the Ubuntu Inspiron E1505n $US649.

Given the extra graphics and the Windows Vista Basic license, the Ubuntu version appears to offer no real extra value, either that or Dell is basically giving away Windows Vista Basic.

Price Difference: $US50

Challenge #2 – Dell Dimension E520n vs Dell Dimension E520

Next, we moved to the desktop and lined up the Windows Vista-installed Dimension E520 against the Ubuntu-preloaded Dimension E520n.

Here, we were able to configure two systems with exactly the same hardware:

• Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 processor
• 17-inch analog E177EP LCD monitor
• 1GB DDR2-667 RAM
• 250GB SATA hard drive
• 48X-speed CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive
• 256MB GeForce 7300 LE graphics card
• Integrated 7.1-channel audio

Based on Dell’s configured pricing, the Ubuntu-loaded Dimension E520n came in at $US649 while the Windows Vista Home Premium version was priced at US$729 so you’re effectively paying around $US80 for the Vista Home Premium license.

Price Difference: $US80

Challenge #3 – Dell XPS 410n vs Dell XPS 410

Finally, we moved onto the more entertainment-focused XPS 410/410n combination.

Here, the savings were nowhere near as good.

We configured both systems again exactly the same. Here’s the component combination we chose:

• Core 2 Duo E4300 processor
• 1GB DDR2-667 RAM
• 250GB SATA hard drive
• Single 16X-speed DVD burner
• 20-inch Dell 2007WFP LCD monitor
• 256MB GeForce 7300 LE graphics card
• Integrated 7.1-channel audio

In this guise, the Ubuntu XPS 410n system came in at $US999 while the Windows Vista Home Premium-installed XPS 410 system was priced at US$1049 so here, the saving by choosing Ubuntu is only $US50.

Price Difference: $US50

What we noticed is that while there is so fluctuation between systems, a Windows Vista license is typically only worth around $US50-80 so if you were expecting to pick up a real bargain, you’re probably going to be disappointed.

Title: The Dell PC price challenge – Windows Vista versus Ubuntu
Author: Darren Yates
Date: 25 May 2007
Source: Techlogg.com

The debut of Microsoft and Sanity’s digital music store - announced at the end of January and one of the centrepieces of the Australian Windows Vista launch event - has been inexplicably delayed until at least mid-June.

The service was originally scheduled to go live in April; a monthly subscription costing “less than a couple of CDs” would give users access to a catalogue of over a million songs and “up to 300 new tracks per month”.

But this morning, a spokeswoman for Sanity said: “we’re probably launching mid-June now.” She declined to comment on what caused the delay.

Microsoft, despite being a partner in developing the store, refused to comment on the delay, claiming it was “a Sanity announcement”.

Microsoft has spoken freely about its intent to launch an Apple iTunes Music Store rival since September last year, claiming it would be ready upon Vista’s Australian debut.

The fact that the store has evidently been in development for some time suggests the delay may be intentional, possibly so the launch coincides with the Australian debut of Microsoft’s Zune music player.

The Zune was launched in the United States late last year but has yet to make its way to Australia. David McLean, the regional director of Microsoft Australia’s entertainment and devices division, has confirmed the Zune will come to Australia but a specific date has not been revealed.

A Microsoft-backed online store, coupled with the Zune, would help break Apple’s iPod-iTunes market stranglehold. The iTunes Music Store has sold over two billion songs and the iPod owns 75 per cent of the digital music player market.

In a statement distributed at the Windows Vista launch event on January 30, Microsoft said: “The Sanity service will give Australian Windows Vista customers access to more than 1 million tracks to download via Windows Media Player 11 [WMP11] and will offer both subscription and purchase options when it goes live in April 2007.”

Tracks purchased from the store could be played on music players using Microsoft’s digital rights management technology - such as those produced by Toshiba, Samsung, Creative, iRiver and SanDisk - but they would not be compatible with the iPod.

Similarly, songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store can only be played on iPods unless they are manually converted to an open format using third-party software.

But unlike iTunes where users pay per song or album, the Sanity/Microsoft store’s subscription model means you will only be able to play a song as long as your subscription is current.

A pay-per-song model could also be offered, but further details are not yet available and specific pricing has not been announced.

Title: When will Sanity’s online store prevail?
Author: Asher Moses
Date: 28 May 2007
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Technology blogger Josh Phillips is atypical of his fellow online community members in his unimpassioned, rational response to the newly announced name for the next version of Windows: Windows Vista.

“I have been giving myself a few days to adjust to the Windows Vista name before passing too much judgment on the selection,” he wrote. “As with most product namings, this was probably driven by the marketing side of the house which, we jokingly say, has a two-drink minimum.”

Thousands of others, however–including those who’ve left 135 comments so far in response to CNET News.com’s story on the new name–couldn’t help but form and offer an opinion.

About 45 percent of 3,000 readers who took a News.com poll said they will get used to Windows Vista. But 40 percent didn’t like it, and only 15 percent thought it was the right choice.

Web discussion on the issue ranges from debates over definitions and interpretations of the word “vista” (apparently it means “hen” in Latvian), to arguments over whether the code name “Longhorn” would have been a better choice.

“The primary definition of ‘vista’ is ‘a scenic or panoramic view,’” said News.com reader Jason Beaudreau, who likes the name and is looking forward to the new OS.

But referencing the delayed release of the OS, another News.com reader, “Jim,” preferred the definition of “vista” as “a distant view or prospect, certainly descriptive of Longhorn,” he said.

One of the more than 750 comments about a related story on Slashdot.org was from an anonymous reader whose reference to “vista” is the old Oldsmobile wagon. “Yeah, Vista Cruiser–perfect name for my computer when I install the ‘Vista’ version of Windows. Vista Cruisers are slow, dodgy and old.”

Using a similarly sarcastic tone, blogger Veggiedude sees “VISTA” as an acronym for “the top five Windows problems: viruses, infections, spyware, trojans and adware,” he wrote.

Others who are lukewarm on the name understand the marketing rationale for it. They say a name like “Windows 2006″ would sound dated in a couple years, and Longhorn isn’t a name that’s easily understood around the globe. And they admit that the name might just take some getting used to.

“Had Vista been the code name, and Longhorn the proposed commercial name, you would have preferred Vista,” a Neowin.net reader said in one of almost 500 comments left to a related post.

“That’s a terrible name,” another Neowin responded to the Vista news. “I hope it’s not true.”

“That’s what people said over Windows 95, ME and XP,” someone else responded.

Microsoft’s advertising tagline for Vista is “Clear, Confident, Connected: Bringing clarity to your world,” according to a video of the announcement posted by Microsoft on Friday.

The first beta, or test release, of Vista is expected Aug. 3. The beta will be targeted at developers and IT professionals, while a second release for consumers will likely debut ahead of Vista’s final release in the second half of next year, the company said.

Title: Windows Vista draws jokes, scorn, approval
Author: Michelle Meyers
Date: 25 Jul 2005
Source: News.Com

Microsoft is delaying the release of Halo 2 for Windows Vista after partial nudity on the game was discovered, the software giant said Friday.

Halo 2 for Windows Vista is now expected to hit the stores sometime in the first week of June, approximately two weeks behind the revised May 22 schedule. The game was originally scheduled for release on May 8, but was delayed due to some technical problems, Microsoft said at the time.
The software giant attributes the most recent delay to an “obscure content error” found in the initial production of Halo 2’s map editor. That error was partial nudity.

Despite the error, Microsoft said it would be difficult to stumble across the offending content.

“This file is not in the game itself, nor will someone who simply plays the game ever encounter it,” Microsoft stated.

The company has no plans to change the rating of its game, given it affects only the initial run of games and not subsequent shipments. Warning labels will be placed on packaging for the affected games, and Microsoft has developed a patch that can be downloaded to remove the content in question.

Title: Partial nudity delays ‘Halo 2′ for Vista
Author: Dawn Kawamoto
Date: 25 May 2007
Source: CNET News.com

It seems that enterprise customers are indeed interested in Vista not for its fancy new interface, new search abilities or anything else it brings to the table except for the enhanced security or rather, enhanced for the time being.

Of 300 IT professionals that were surveyed at Information Week, 217 are considering making the move over to Vista, of those 14% want to get their hands on UAC (User Account Protection) which requires an administrator password for just about every file operation under the sun. But 22% just want improved functionality.

The main problem with Vista is excruciatingly slow file transfers among large files around 800MB or higher, it takes a long time or at least longer than the transfer would have taken on XP. Businesses move around a lot of data and some of those are bound to be large files.

Vista takes even worse to secure file transfers which is even slower than a regular transfer. Microsoft is promising to fix that with the release of Service Pack 1 which is due at some point later this year. I wouldn’t be surprised if it saw delays, just like Vista did.

The number one concern for these IT professionally types was remote desktop security, all these business types are rushing around trying to find more ways to secure it, or they could just invest in the best operating system on the planet instead.

Title: Move to Vista driven by security
Author: Jonathan Schlaffer
Date: 23 May 2007
Source: vista.blorge

Despite Bill Gates disclosure last week at WinHEC that Microsoft has sold 40 million copies of Vista since the operating system hit the market, high-tech market research firm, In-Stat, says the demand for new PCs has not been impacted significantly by Vista’s delay and subsequent release.

“With the recent release of Vista, a short-term rise in PC demand is anticipated,” says Ian Lao, In-Stat analyst. “System sales that had been muted waiting for systems pre-loaded with Vista rather than XP are expected to work through sales channels in the next two quarters. However, these sales represent an offset from last year rather than actual new demand creation.”

In other words, the long-term expectations have not changed in the wake of Vista’s launch. In-Stat predicts 300 million PCs to be sold in 2009, the same number it predicted when Windows XP was still the most recent OS.

In-Stat told TG Daily that while it does not question Microsoft’s sales figures, it does not believe in its assertions that Vista will cause any kind of “unexpected surge” in PC purchasing. It is also unclear how many of the 40 million copies were pre-installed on new computers and how many of the upper tier versions of the OS were sold.

Corporate buying cycles continue to be the dominant factor in enterprise demand for new PCs, but Vista’s release is having even less effect on corporate customers, noted In-Stat.

While the new OS might be a “nice new operating system with good features,” Lao said, overall it is not proving to be a “demand creator” for PC buyers.

In-Stat says the only real winner from the release of Vista is going to be memory manufacturers, which it says are likely to see around a 20% year-to-year revenue increase through the end of the decade.

Lao expects PCs shipping with a premium version of Vista to come with 1GB of RAM in the form of two 512MB sticks. On the other hand, users of those PCs shipped with 512MB are expected to be looking to upgrade/replace their memory.

The research, “Vista Update: Assessing Vista’s Impact on PC Demand”, covers the worldwide market for PCs. It includes revenue and unit sales forecasts for PCs and PC semiconductors through 2011, as well as PC quarterly sales forecasts through the end of 2007. It also includes analysis of the impact of Vista on secondary markets.

Title: Vista’s release not having major impact on PC sales
Author: Ruben Francia
Date: 23 May 2007
Source: vista.blorge

Microsoft has on a number of occasions claimed that its Vista is more secure than any other operating system it released. While acknowledging that Microsoft has done a lot to make the new operating system more stable and secure, researchers at software security firm McAfee warn users to be more careful.

Toralv Dirro, researcher with McAfee’s Avert Labs, expressed concern that people will be lulled into a false sense of security by the claims being made about Vista’s high level of security, which he remarked might lead some people to desist from using antivirus software, firewalls and “common sense”.

“Now that everyone is thinking Vista is very secure maybe they’re also thinking: ‘Why do I need that firewall?’ People might not install antivirus and keep it updated or use common sense when downloading things off the internet.

“What hackers really want is not control over the system but control over the data,” he added. “Even if malware cannot take full use of the machine the hacker can still steal all the data he’s interested in. That could be a real danger if people perceive the system as so secure they stop thinking. It took years for them to start thinking about security and that could change for the worse.”

He also said that Windows Vista presents its own unique set of problems.

“With Vista, Microsoft made it very difficult for protection software to really hook up people with the operating system to have full control over that machine,” said Dirro. “If some malware breaks into Vista and targets this kind of access then it’s in complete control of the system and in control over the security software that is running there. Then it becomes absolutely impossible to detect that malware once it has taken control.”

Vista is becoming the favorite OS among hacker.

A week ago, a group of hacker known as NoPE claims to have created a Vista installation DVD that requires no hack, no serial key and no bypassing, it simply activates, works and goes about updating right after the install.

Recently, a web application developer also found a way to hack Windows Vista through its User Account Control (UAC) feature.

“No matter what they build into the operating system of Vista the malware writer is going to find a way to shut it down or circumvent it,” added Dave Marcus, researcher, Avert Labs, McAfee.

Vista may be more secure than any other operating system Microsoft has released, but not good enough to put your guard down. Be more careful.

Title: Microsoft security claims on Vista can lull users into false sense of security
Author: Ruben Francia
Date: 24 May 2007
Source: vista.blorge

(Computerworld) — Microsoft Corp. said that patches for a Windows Update lockup problem do fix the flaw, even though users still see their computers’ CPUs maxed out at 100%. The “svchost/msi issue” issue has plagued Windows users, particularly those running Windows XP, for months. When users tried to retrieve security patches from Windows Update or Microsoft Update, manually or via Automatic Updates, their PCs’ processors would hit 100% and stay there, making the machines unusable. A two-part patch available for manual download was posted earlier this month, but users who installed it said the repair was worthless: They still saw CPUs redlining.

Tuesday, Microsoft began offering the first half of the update as a high-priority, non-security fix to Windows users through its various patch services. “This update is the first part of a two-part fix that is the comprehensive solution to the problem,” Microsoft stated in an advisory published on its Web site. “In June, another update will involve the Windows Update client. The update for the Windows Update client will also be automatically offered through Automatic Updates.”

Although users will have the fix in place only after both parts are installed — making anyone who relies on Automatic Updates vulnerable to the svchost/msi bug until sometime next month — even users who downloaded both pieces manually were initially unconvinced that it worked. “Doesn’t appear that the fixes address the issue I experience on multiple machines,” said one user in a posting to the Windows Update support forum two weeks ago.

This week, Microsoft said that the full fix really does work, appearances notwithstanding.

“It’s important to note that with the MSI fix and the new client installed, the CPU may still go near 100%, but the system should still be responsive and not lock up,” said Bobbie Harder, a program manager on the Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) team, on the group’s blog. “If another task requires CPU cycles they will be shared, but if the system is idle, MSI will use the full cycles available. If a task is running at the same time as MSI, the system may be slightly slower, but should still be responsive during this time.”

The patches, Harder added, are meant to address locked up systems, not knock down CPU usage. “CPU spikes during some scans are expected, machine unresponsiveness is not,” said Harder. “If your [sic] watching the process monitor, you will still see 100% CPU during some scans and this is expected behavior.”

That high, and expected, CPU load, was what prompted users to erroneously report the updates didn’t do the job, Harder intimated in a post the next day. “After installing the new 3.0 client and the MSI fix, we tested scan times, system responsiveness and CPU utilization on a variety of systems running multiple applications simultaneously,” Harder said. “There was the expected CPU usage spike in the task manager, however all the systems remained responsive. We are seeing many more posts in blogs, forums and newsgroups where users are reporting these installs alleviate these issues, while the CPU consumption does temporarily spike as expected.”

A Microsoft support document contains links to the appropriate downloads for Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. Windows Vista is not affected by the svchost/msi issue.

Title: Microsoft swears Automatic Updates lockup fix works
Author: Gregg Keizer
Date: 24 May 2007
Source: Computer World